County Attorney candidates from left to right: Graham Trimble, Bob Hammons and Don Moses. All three participated in a forum Monday, held at Williamsburg City Hall and sponsored by the Whitley County UNITE Coalition.
How does Whitley County end its backlog of 4,800 cases on the district court docket? When, if ever, is it permissible to require someone to make a donation to a police department in exchange for charges being lowered or dismissed? Should felony drug cases ever be plea bargained down to misdemeanors and settled in district court?
Each of the three candidates for Whitley County attorney gave answers to these questions and others during a Whitley County UNITE forum, which was held Monday evening at the Williamsburg City Hall.
Over 50 people either sat in the city council meeting room or stood outside in the hallway so they could hear what interim County Attorney Don Moses, former County Attorney Bob Hammons and Graham Trimble had to say.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. appointed Moses as interim county attorney last year after Paul Winchester was appointed as circuit judge. A special election to fill out the remainder of Winchester’s term in office is scheduled for next month.
Case backlog
What can be done to eliminate Whitley County’s backlog of 4,800 cases in Whitley District Court or to keep DUI cases from stretching out beyond 90 days?
By far, Hammons has the solution with the coolest sounding name, which he calls the "rocket docket" in order to keep additional cases from piling up.
If someone has a complaint with their neighbor, and all they want is for the neighbor to leave them alone, then this is the type of case that would be put on the "rocket docket" Hammons explained.
He said this would prevent victims and defendants from having to go to court three or four times for a case.
When people come to the county attorneys office to file a complaint, Hammons said they need to speak with the county attorney so he can determine how the person wants to handle the matter. For instance a peace bond might settle a dispute between neighbors, or in a theft case the victim may only want restitution.
"That will take care of a lot of docket cases, and will allow us to focus on more serious crime," he noted.
It wouldn’t be possible with more serious or complicated cases, which would have to be placed on the regular docket.
On the concept of the "rocket docket" the other candidates differ in their opinion.
Moses noted that the "rocket docket" is a catchy sounding name but that concept overlooks certain constitutional rights that defendants have, and that a prosecutor can’t solve a legal problem two days after getting it in most cases.
"The defendant is entitled to be apprised of what he or she is charged with, and they have to be afforded the right to counsel," Moses said.
"We may use buzz words like ‘rocket docket,’ I am going to get them in and out, but you have to keep in mind there is a legal process that has to be followed in every case that comes through district court of a criminal nature that is what we work with."
Hammons countered that the county attorney needs to think outside the box in terms of streamlining the system.
Trimble agrees that the concept of the "rocket docket" is a good idea, but said what Hammons is proposing is part of the job description for county attorney.
Hammons also proposed putting all pending all cases on the docket once per quarter to check their status, which is similar to what happens in circuit court.
Hammons said he is opposed to wholesale dismissal of cases, just because the cases have been on the docket for a few months in order to get the number of cases down to some arbitrary number.
More trial dates needed
Trimble’s solution to the problem of the backlog is getting more trial dates in district court.
Currently, there is only one trial date set per month in Corbin and one set per month in Williamsburg. Laurel County has one day set aside per week for trials.
Trimble said there will continue to be a backlog of cases unless there are more trial dates set, which is something he promises to lobby for if elected.
Moses said that no cases have been permitted to stretch out for years under his watch. He knows this because he hasn’t been in office for a whole year yet.
Moses said that under his administration, when lab results are back then defendants are given the choice of either entering a plea deal or going to trial.
He said felony cases are either waived to the grand jury or a preliminary hearing is conducted. The best way of keeping the cases moving forward is through efficient utilization of the docket.
Moses said that when he walks into the courtroom as county attorney, he stays in the courtroom to talk with parties and keep the docket moving forward until it is cleared.
Moses said he has spoken with the district judges, who have agreed to give up their free Thursdays in order to schedule more trial dates until the case backlog has been cleared.
At that point, officials would go back to the old system of one trial date per month in each town, Moses said.
Trimble said that if having more trial dates fixes the system, then he’s not in favor of going back to the old way of doing things once the backlog is cleared because doing that is part is what caused the initial backlog.
Hammons said he has no problem working more trial dates.
Contributions to police
During his opening remarks, Moses cited five cases where charges were dismissed or lowered in exchange for a contribution to the sheriff’s department during the administration of former Sheriff Lawrence Hodge, who is now in federal prison.
Two of the cases were 2006 traffic cases where defendants were required to make a $250 contribution to the sheriff. One case was a 2006 misdemeanor DUI case, where the defendant had to make a $4,500 contribution to the sheriff’s department.
He also cited two felony cases. In the 2004 case, the defendant was required to make a $25,000 contribution to the sheriff’s department. In the 2007 drug case, the defendant forfeited $30,549 cash to the sheriff’s department and a mustang.
Later, moderator Adam Sulfridge asked whether requiring donations should ever be permissible.
Moses said he can find nowhere in the state statutes where this is permissible, and that it is never permissible.
"In my opinion, there is no room for that.
This is what has gone on in the past. This is not what will go on with me in office," he said.
Both Hammons and Trimble stopped just short of saying never.
Hammons said that if this happens, it should only be done rarely.
He noted that the job is to be a prosecutor and not a "persecutor," and that it’s important to see what the victim and police want in the case.
Trimble agreed that the prosecutor’s job is to seek justice, which includes punishing the perpetrator and making the victim feel as whole as possible.
He added that requiring contributions starts down a "slippery slope," and that the courts shouldn’t get into situations where it appears a certain amount of money can affect a case.
Felony drug cases
Should felony drug cases ever be plea bargained or dismissed in district court?
On this issue the candidates generally agreed that each case had to be looked at on its own merits.
Moses said that it’s important to talk with the arresting officer to see what they want to proceed.
Just because someone is charged with a felony, doesn’t mean the crime has all the elements of a felony offense, Hammons said.
Sometimes witnesses aren’t available any longer or the resources aren’t there to prosecute the crime as a felony.
"You just can’t say that every case that gets dismissed smells," Hammons added.
Preventing egregious cases
How do you keep egregious cases from happening in the future, and how do you hold the county attorney accountable?
Elections were the consensus answer among the candidates, who noted that cases don’t get dismissed unless the judges agree to go along with it.
Hammons said that prosecutors need a certain amount of prosecutorial discretion in order to do their jobs.
Hammons and Moses agreed that prosecutors need to stand in open court and explain why they are dismissing a case.
Moses added that dismissing cases through agreed orders is one way of hiding why cases are being dismissed.
Trimble cautioned that no matter what happens, no system is perfect or fool proof, but that he thinks greater transparency can help.
Court access office
Trimble said he isn’t in favor of closing the Corbin district court facilities. Including the Corbin facility, there are five courtrooms available for use in the county.
"As long as those are available to us for use, I think they need to be used," he said.
Hammons said that, if elected, he would not be closing the county attorney’s courthouse office in Williamsburg, and wouldn’t close Corbin district court facilities either.
"I think the people in Corbin need to have an office they can go to. I think people in Williamsburg need to have an office to go to," Hammons said. "Keep the courthouses open. Keep the offices open so we will be accessible to the people."
Moses said that as long as the court facility remains in Corbin, he would still be going there for court. He added that he has two assistant county attorneys, who work in Corbin and can be seen there.
Drug treatment
Should defendants be court ordered to undergo drug treatment?
The candidates all agreed that the area has a horrible drug problem, and say that drug treatment shouldn’t necessarily be ordered.
Trimble said that court-ordered drug treatment can sometimes get people to address a problem that they have with drugs, but have been reluctant to tackle. Many fall back into old habits when they get out though.
Sometimes incarceration works better to get their attention, he said.
Hammons said the drug problem is both "simple and complicated" at the same time.
Drug pushers and makers need to be jailed with no rehab. Drug addicts need a mixture of structured drug rehab and some type of probationary tool in order to give them an incentive to complete rehab and stay out of jail, he said.
"The punishment needs to fit the crime," Hammons added. "My experience has been that a little cement and iron bar goes a long way to rehabilitate the pushers and the makers of meth."
Moses said that he doesn’t think court ordered drug treatment is very effective.
There is no adult drug court program in district court, and the only way to require drug treatment is to make it a bond condition, he noted.
Drug related crime
Should a drug addict, who is charged with theft or burglary so he can get money to feed his drug habit, be sent to jail or drug rehab?
Trimble said that people need to distinguish between punishing someone for committing a crime and reason why they committed the crime, which is often drugs.
He said the crime needs to be punished, in addition to the person addressing their drug problem through rehab.
Hammons said he is all for drug addicts going to rehab, but he thinks they also need to be punished for the crime that they committed.
"If you have a thief, put them in jail," he added.
Moses countered that many thefts – particularly the serious ones – are tied to burglaries, which are felonies that district court doesn’t have jurisdiction over and must be prosecuted in circuit court.
"We don’t have drug court. Circuit court does," Moses said. "When we have burglaries, the only thing we can do in district court is send it on to the grand jury.
"We can sit here and talk about what ought to be done, but we simply do not have the jurisdiction to do what these gentlemen have been talking about."
Hammons countered that there are several misdemeanor theft cases that district court does handle though.
Moses said he was under the impression the question was about burglary cases in district court.
Testy exchange
During the forum, a Moses supporter asked Hammons how long he worked as an assistant county attorney in recent years, and then asked why there was a backlog of 4,800 cases that hadn’t been tried during that time.
Hammons said this would be a question that should be directed to former County Attorney Paul Winchester, and isn’t a fair question to direct to him.
Hammons said that he hadn’t seen all the cases and didn’t know what they were, but according to a recent newspaper report the majority of cases had been bench warrants and fugitive warrants, which hadn’t been served.
"I’m running on my record," he noted on more than once instance during the forum.
"I’m not going to make quotas just to satisfy a particular section of this community so that they will be happy about it," Hammons added.
"I don’t care if there are 10,000 cases, if they have bench warrants and fugitive warrants on them, they are going to stay active until they are found and prosecuted."
Log onto thenewsjournal.net/ to see exclusive video footage from the forum.
